NASCAR: Can Kyle Busch become the greatest driver of all-time?
Love him or hate him, Kyle Busch is one of the most talented NASCAR drivers on the track every week. Is he talented enough to become the greatest of all-time?
There is only one King, and there always will be for one simple reason: 200 wins. It’s a feat that only Richard Petty accomplished and ever will. Petty took advantage of an age in NASCAR when they would race 40 to 70 times a season, and no modern driver will have that opportunity.
Should 200 wins be the milestone to hit, though? Is it fair to say that since nobody else will ever reach that moniker that nobody else will ever be considered the greatest? I personally don’t believe so.
Up until this point, there have only been three people to challenge Petty’s reign, and those people are Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and the late, great Dale Earnhardt. But none have cemented themselves in supremacy outside of the opinions of certain fans.
After so many decades sitting on the throne, it’s hard to imagine anyone else being considered the greatest of all-time in the same sense that it’s so difficult to ever imagine someone replacing Michael Jordan as the greatest NBA player of all-time.
I believe that Kyle Busch has a good chance at becoming the new GOAT of NASCAR.
Will he get 200 wins in the Cup Series? Of course not. I don’t believe that will be a factor when his career is finished, though.
At 32 years old, he is still considered in the prime of his career and relatively young in NASCAR terms. His passion for the sport will more than likely carry him into his forties and fifties and with his talent and competitive drive, he’ll more than likely remain competitive throughout those years.
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Let’s just say he races until the age of 50. That would mean he has 18 more years of racing ahead of him, and he currently averages around three wins per season. Three wins per season for eighteen years would work out to 54 more wins added onto his record and bring him up to 99 race wins in the Cup series for his career.
When you look at it like this, it makes the possibility of him reaching well over 100 wins in the Cup Series very realistic. But what about seven championships? Well, in 13+ full-time seasons, he has only won the championship once in 2015 at age 30. So does he have time to win at least six more? I believe so.
Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson didn’t win his first championship until he was 31 years old. Of course, he went on to win five in a row, but it proves that Busch still has time to go on his own run.
If Kyle Busch wins over 100 Cup Series races, which could very well happen, add on the 91 Xfinity Series wins and the 50 Truck Series wins that he already has. Plus, both of those totals are also likely going to rise as his career goes on. His win record in NASCAR could become something that nobody has ever done before, as he could potentially reach near 300 total NASCAR victories.
So, does a driver that will have over 200 wins in NASCAR overall combining all three series, possibly even close in on 300 when the end of his career approaches, even need seven championships in order to be considered the greatest of all-time?
For me personally, if Busch goes on to win 100 Cup Series races and gets over 200 wins overall and at least five championships in the modern-day playoff format, I would put him at the top of my list.
Next: Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time
What do you guys think? What would it take for you to call Kyle Busch the greatest NASCAR driver of all-time? Let me know in the comments.